In two weeks, on November 1, the reform of unemployment compensation comes into force, which requires all people who receive unemployment benefits to file their income tax returns of the corresponding year regardless of your income.
Is this positive or negative for the taxpayers concerned? It depends. Even if the government minimizes this situation, there will be people who They will have to pay the tax authorities more than 2,000 euros for this.
Remember that, until now, recipients of unemployment benefits could decide whether or not to file the income tax return provided that they had an annual income of less than 14,000 euros if they had two or more payers or less than 22,000 euros. with a single payer.
However, this condition changes from November. All unemployed people will have to submit the personal income tax return. It is something that can particularly harm people who have received unemployment benefits and wages.
This is according to Aitor Fernández, tax advisor at TaxDown. “There may be a certain number of taxpayers who will be afraid.“, he explains. shock which could reach up to 2,300 euros, according to simulations carried out by the agency.
In what cases can this situation occur? Fernández explains that this will happen in cases where the beneficiaries of the allowance have worked and received a salary, and companies applied the minimum withholding tax on personal income taxor 2%.
This is a common practice when dealing with workers that the company hires and pays for only a few months during the financial year.
If there were no obligation to declare personal income tax, there would be no problem. But since there will be, Taxpayers in this situation must pay the portion of the tax that the company did not withhold. “There will be more than one and more than two people in this situation,” warns Fernández.
It further requires that taxpayers be informed of the new scenario. “There may be people who are not aware of the new obligation and who must submit the declaration. And they risk a fine of 200 euros.“, a fine that represents a significant economic blow for low-income households, as would be the case.
“Documentary”
As mentioned previously, The government has downplayed the obligation. The Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, said this week that the obligation for unemployed people who receive unemployment benefits to have to file their income tax declaration from 2025 is “documentary“.
“Their exempt minimum continues to apply, which is 15,800 euros, and there is therefore only a documentary obligation, which moreover was already provided for in the minimum vital income (IMV),” added Pérez Rey.
Joaquín Pérez Rey, Secretary of State for Labor.
EFE
Pérez Rey clarified that the measure was a “recommendation” of the Ministry of Finance and indicated that “the majority of unemployed people in this country will not reach the exempt minimum of 15,800 euros“In fact, for him, the obligation “can be a clearly beneficial measure, because it will allow them to deduct themselves in case they have contributed income under personal income tax,” he said. -he declared.
His superior, the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, went further and raised the debate on whether or not it is necessary to include all people in the tax declaration to facilitate the granting of social benefits.
“Sometimes they ask us why we can’t provide compensation or direct aid. Well, quite simply, The simple fact that we do not have a tax return, unlike other countries, for citizens of our country, prevents this.” Diaz said.
